Kessler Fellows is an entrepreneurship program rooted in the College of Engineering. The program is open to all juniors at Cornell University that have a strong interest in entrepreneurship. Students will engage in a semester-long immersion aimed to help them cultivate their entrepreneurial readiness before their summer experience with a startup.
Any junior at Cornell University with an interest in entrepreneurship are encouraged to apply.
Through the generosity of Andrew J. Kessler '80 EE, Fellows receive a weekly stipend during their summer internship and travel costs will be covered.
The program involves a one-credit course during the spring semester, one-on-one time with an Entrepreneur-in-Residence, and a presentation at the conclusion of their summer experience.
I learned so much more than I could have ever expected in a 10-week timeframe. The fellowship certainly got me more excited about entrepreneurship and showed me that there is a clear—albeit difficult—path from research to company to patient.
Going into the summer, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do after college. I knew I wanted to work on something impactful in the bioelectronic or biomedical field and thought working at a startup or getting a Ph.D. would be the best route for that. Being a Kessler Fellow allowed me to talk to many different people about how their careers progressed and learn from their successes and mistakes.
“ Academics are important. I wanted to get out there and do real things. Getting involved with start-ups is not the typical route, but it was what I needed to do."
-Georgia Crowther, Kessler Fellow
Ahmed Elsamadisi ’13
Recognized on Forbes "30 Under 30" Lists, Elsamadisi founded a startup called Narrator AI and is a graduate of YCombinator. Earlier in his career, he also leveraged his Cornell connections to land a position as a Senior Data Engineer at WeWork.
Shanee Lu ' 11
After completing her Kessler Fellowship, Lu was accepted into Cornell's competitive eLab student accelerator and she launched Qubit, a startup enables coaches to speak directly into their players' helmets. She also landed a position as a product manager at Wyze.
Michael Gingras ’17
Gingras interned at Ideo through his Kessler Fellowship and launched a bitcoin startup called Dexter in Cornell's eLab accelerator. Upon graduation, he has served as a software engineer at companies including Nasdaq, Gearflow.com, and Sora.
The College of Engineering’s Kessler Fellows program welcomed 20 new student entrepreneurs to its latest cohort, where they will explore entrepreneurship through academic coursework, mentorship with... Read more about Student entrepreneurs selected as 2021 Kessler Fellows
The College of Engineering’s Kessler Fellows program is now open to all junior STEM majors and is under new leadership. Read more about Expanded Kessler Fellows program welcomes new cohort
This year, the College of Engineering’s Kessler Fellows Program had to navigate summer internships amid a global pandemic, but the program’s staff was able to place all 13 students in summer programs... Read more about Kessler Fellows internships completed amid trying times
